'I Am Not Going to Surrender.'

Man of the momentDefense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile rallies antigovernment activists on Feb. 24, 1986. The loss of military support was key to dislodging Marcos

The following is an edited version of a news report on events surrounding the fall of Marcos written by William E. Smith and published in TIME on March 10, 1986.

If there was something inexplicable about the mass phenomenon that rescued the Philippines from a failing dictatorship, there was no doubt when the process began. It was Aug. 21, 1983, on the tarmac at Manila's international airport. On that day, opposition politician Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino Jr., 50, returning from three years of self-imposed exile in the U.S., was shot as he stepped...